Mare always in season-any suggestions?

[sayrrra]

Hiya,

My mare April used to always have silent seasons and you would never know that she was in season. She is now (past few weeks) in season constantly-or so it seems,she does have a few days off. She is turned out with 4 geldings (live at home and dont have any other mares). Not only is she is season constantly she has turned into the pony from hell! I cant catch her, when she was ridden she tanked off with my friends 4 yo-this was a few months ago and she wasnt obviously in season ie squirting etc so I couldt work out why she had done it now I wonder if she was sore?

The other day I took her down to the sand school for a wee bit of long reining and when we had finished I let her off. When I let her off I then couldnt catch her! I spent more than 2 hours trying to catch her and even when I split the arena in half with jumps so it was only about 15mx15m I still couldnt get her, she just ran circles round me, eventually I gave up and tried to get her with food but she still wasnt interested. I was so frustrated that I sat down and cried! Then I went and said to my friend that I was going and April could stay in the arena all night as far as I was concerned and went to work.

Christine couldnt catch her either but opened the arena gate and let her walk up to the yard herself-I thought about doing this but didnt want to "give up" after trying to catch her for so long even though I did give up by leaving! Not being able to catch her is very un April like as is her tanking off when ridden.

I have spoken to the vet at work who suggested cystic ovaries but he hasnt seen her and was just going on what I told me. He is going to come out and see her but I just wondered if anyone here had any suggestions as I like to be armed with as many possibilities as possible especially from people who have more personal experience with some problems than the vet (sometimes!)

here are the suggestions that Christine and I have some up with:

1. Ad in paper. Free to anyone who can catch it! 12hh pony, impossible to catch, tanks off when ridden, rears when tied up and wont lift its feet! open to offers! lol

2. get another mare and turn them out together?! -no thanks!

3. Put her in foal-no way!

Thank you to anyone who can get through this saga and offer any advice, I also spoke to some of the equine vets and waiting on a phone call back-advantage of working at a vet school, lots of vets! lol

[frozzy]

Cheap option -try moody mare or one of the other Agnus Castus hormone supplements
Expensive option- but sure to work Regumate or the pig version which is the same stuff just less expensive. Have to get it through the vet tho.

[saza911]

I'd get her checked out by a vet first as it does sound like she isn't herself.
Good luck!

[Anne]

Well to me the simple answer seems to be to get her scanned to see if the problem is ovarian, Im surprised the vets have not suggested this. She may have cysts, she may also have a granulosa tumour on her ovaries making her behave like this. Start with the obvious, Unfair i think to ignore it and try to pass her on to someone else when a thirty pound scan may well give you the answer. Granted she is a bit young for a tumour but not impossible. Chances are you would never get her in foal anyway with an ovarian/hormonal problem.

[sayrrra]

sorry, the suggestions at the end were made in a jokey way. I would never sell her.

I think the vets will suggest scanning her to be honest, I only spoke to him about 20 mins ago and Lorenzo is a farm animal vet but he told me to go and speak to one of the equine vets which I did but they were in surgery and will phone me back when they finished.

I just wondered since quite a lot of people on here do breed they may have seen this and have 1st hand experience that they could share with me.

I have read about regumate and things but I wouldnt want to give her anything til I knew that she needed it, certainly anne I will ask to get her scanned if the vet doesnt suggest it. I want my nice sane pony back! She just seems to ahve got worse this week, I should perhaps have got the vet out earlier but she wasnt being a demon then.

Thanks for the quick replies, I will let you know how it goes.

[gemba]

When u say in season - do u mean, 'wet' or dribbling constantly?
If so this could be a bladder problem - a long shot but i know of a pony like this who looks to be constantly dribbling - although this is a very old pony ... 

[sayrrra]

I mean she is going around everywhere with her tail up squirting and winking at everyone and anyone! April is only 12 and has had one foal that I know of before I owned her. I have had her for about 5/6 years.

[Jenwalsh]

sounds very much like one of our mares she was in season for 5 months straight and even jumped a 5 bar gate from a standstill to go squirt in my sisters geldings face she was a nightmare too, turns out she has a cyst on her overie.  We put her in foal (we were planning it anyway but the vet also advised this would be a good option) and it all stopped, she was quiet as a lamb.  shes had the foal now so we are waiting to see if she returns to her old ways. 

[Fourwinds Catrin]

My friends mare was doing the same thing as yours...and got dangerous she then started passing what i can only describe
as a soft boiled egg type thing and after messing about with a local vets that didnt know what was wrong, she booked her
into a horse hosp they scanned her and did and it turns out she has cysts on her ovaries she is now on easy pee and back to her
normal self..


x

[sayrrra]

Thanks for all the replies. Vet coming out tomorrow morning so will let you know what happens....typically though she is not in season now! LOL! but I still cant get near her?! so I think i will have to bring everyone in and try and herd her into a stable to catch her.

Sarah

[bitsnpieces]

good luck!! let us know how it goes

[sophieb]

Hope scan shows something up.  My young horse was very similar and had started behaving badly (send home from 2 pro yards as unrideable).  Got her scanned and she turned out to have a large haemorraghing (sp?!) ovary, got her PGed, scanned again and it had gone.  She was basically stuck at the beginning of her cycle.  She's now on regumate and is a completely different animal, thank god.  Fingers crossed for you.

[Lisa - Forestgate stud.]

Im with the scan too - if thats clear then as the first reply suggests - try moody mare. Im moving house in 2 weeks, was thinking of starting to take some moody mare myself!!

[sayrrra]

vet out, not very successful! He couldnt scan her as she kept rearing, he did try a few times but she just wouldnt stand. He took a blood test-which has to be sent off to the states! so I wont know results from that for a few weeks. He suggested trying her on regumate in the meantime. I said no at 1st cause she wont eat anything in her feed, no matter how you try to disguise it! But I think I will go in on my way home and tell him i have changed my mind as I think its worth a try. Basically he said if she is still the same on regumate then it indicates that she has a tumour and if not then it should be sorted.

So fingers crossed that the regumate works and/or the bloods come back negative, if they dont then I dont knoe what I will do as she isnt insured (1st year ever that shes not been cause I went back to uni then lost my p/t job and now my hours a the uni have been cut so I only earn £100/month!) typical that when I need her insured she isnt

[Anne]

Why on earth did he not give her a sedative so he could do the job properly??